Todd Van Emst, Auburn U.Auburn coach Jeff Lebo, shown here during the Tigers' win against Arkansas, said he was happy to escape Georgia with a win.

ATHENS, Ga. -- Jeff Lebo has taught his players just about every scenario and strategy imaginable, but occasionally something unusual crops up.

On Wednesday, Auburn players encountered the new challenge of milking the clock with a huge lead in a road venue, and quickly discovered they weren't very good at it.

The Tigers saw their 35-7 lead cut down to six points late in the game, but recovered to preserve a 71-59 victory against Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum.

"In the second half, coach told us to slow it down a little bit, and that's not our style, really," said junior Tay Waller, who scored 15 in the first half but finished with only 20.

"I don't know why we slowed it down, because we like to run," said Korvotney Barber, who had 11 points and tied a career high with 18 rebounds.

With Auburn (17-9, 6-5 SEC) riding a four-game winning streak and playing its best basketball in years, Lebo wasn't about to be picky.

"I don't care where you're playing, if you get a league win on the road, they're hard to come by," Lebo said. "I'm proud of the way our team played. It wasn't as pretty in the second half, but we won the game."

The Tigers won by the largest margin in Athens since 1977 and broke .500 in the conference at the latest date since 2003. If they upset LSU Saturday in Baton Rouge, the Tigers will have the longest conference winning streak since 1999. Only a late comeback by Mississippi State Wednesday prevented Auburn from taking over second place in the SEC West.

"We're feeling good," Waller said. "Coach said the only thing we can do is win our games. Everything else will take care of itself."

Wednesday's game hardly seemed in doubt only a few minutes after tipoff. The Bulldogs, who stunned Florida 88-86 on Saturday, seemed to have gotten all the shooting out of their system in that upset.

When Georgia (10-16, 1-10) finally scored a basket to break a nine-minute drought and "cut" Auburn's lead to 35-9, the crowd let out a sarcastic and biting cheer.

Waller made two 3-pointers in the game's first 90 seconds. Barber grabbed nine rebounds in the first eight minutes. While the Tigers knocked down shots, Georgia limped to a 27-percent mark from the field.

The second half was different from the start. The Bulldogs recaptured a bit of the Georgia magic, while Auburn went cold.

"(Lebo) was saying to stop taking quick shots," Waller said. "He said the only way they can come back is if they have more possessions, so we were saying 'take smart shots' and that slowed it down a little bit."

Georgia twice cut the lead to as close as six points (outscoring Auburn 47-25 since the game's low point), and the sarcasm turned to genuine excitement in the stands.

Auburn players felt the momentum shift.

"Oh yeah, it got very scary there," Waller said. "Coach called timeout, and told us to keep our poise."

By and large, Auburn did. The Tigers' always-shaky free-throw shooting didn't offer much assistance (Auburn made only 14 of 29 foul shots Wednesday), but the defense stiffened and DeWayne Reed and Rasheem Barrett made crucial buckets.

Lebo made a circuit of the bench and slapped every player's hand, his only public acknowledgment of what must have been an enormous sigh of relief. Given Auburn's huge lead and the importance of this game, one reporter asked later, did Lebo ever consider just how devastating a loss would have been?